JPH0332613A - Coffee extractor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically set an optimum dripping water quantity and to extract coffee irrespective of a temperature of coffee powder by detecting a temperature of coffee powder contained in a filter chamber, and bringing the opening/closing of a flow rate control valve to driving control in accordance with its information. CONSTITUTION:On the inside of a filter chamber 7, a temperature detecting means 13 such as a thermistor and a thermometer, etc., is provided, and on a flow rate control valve 4, a driving means 14 such as a stepping motor, etc., is provided, and in accordance with a displacement angle of this driving means 14, by opening and closing the flow rate control valve 4, a dripping speed of water is adjusted. Information from the temperature detecting means 13 is processed by a temperature detecting circuit 15, sent to a driving means control circuit 16 for controlling the driving means 14, and by a processed signal, the driving means 14 turns, and opens and closes the flow rate control valve 4. For instance, when coffee of a low temperature is put into the filter chamber 7, the driving means 14 turns so that the flow rate control valve 4 is closed, the flow rate is reduced, and a dripping speed of water decreases. Therefore, dripping water can infiltrate into coffee powder 6 by taking time slowly, and a coffee element can be extracted exhaustively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a cold brew coffee extractor for extracting coffee with cold water or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, this type of cold brew coffee extractor has generally been shown, for example, in FIG. 4, and its configuration is as follows.

That is, water is poured into the water container 21, and the regulating valve 22 is adjusted to drip the water little by little into the coffee powder 24 housed in the filtration chamber 23. The dropped water passes through the coffee grounds 24 over a long period of time, extracts coffee components, and then becomes coffee liquid and drops into the coffee container 25.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, this configuration has the following problems.

In other words, the important points in this kind of coffee brewer are:
The question is whether the dripped water can penetrate sufficiently evenly into the coffee grounds, that is, whether the dripping water and the coffee grounds have good wettability.

Experiments have revealed that the wettability of coffee powder with water is greatly influenced by (1) the temperature of the dripping water, (2) the temperature of the coffee powder, and (2) the flow rate of the dripping water.

For example, as the temperature of dripping water decreases, the surface tension of the water increases, and the water itself becomes inert, resulting in extremely poor wettability. Furthermore, when using coffee powder that has been stored at a low temperature in a refrigerator or the like, the oil and fat contained in the coffee powder becomes inactive, resulting in poor wettability.

In this way, if the wettability between the dripping water and coffee powder is poor, the dripping water will not penetrate into the coffee powder sufficiently, making it impossible to extract the essence of the coffee, and the coffee extractor will no longer be able to fulfill its role. .

Furthermore, if the amount of dripping water is too large than the amount of water that can permeate into the coffee powder, the portion of the dripping water that cannot penetrate may overflow from the filtration chamber.

Conventional cold brew coffee extractors do not take into account how to improve the wettability of dripping water and coffee grounds, or how to adjust the amount of dripping water, and rely on the intuition and experience of the user. It was large and extremely difficult to use.

The present invention solves these conventional problems by automatically setting the optimum amount of dripping water depending on the temperature of coffee powder stored in the filtration chamber.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the coffee extractor of the present invention comprises a water container containing water, a flow control valve for controlling the dripping flow rate of water in the water container, and a coffee extractor containing coffee powder. a filtration chamber, a temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of coffee powder stored in the filtration chamber, and a drive means for opening and closing the flow rate control valve in response to information from the temperature detection means. It is.

action The effect of this technical means is as follows.

That is, when the temperature of the coffee powder stored in the filtration chamber is low, the wettability between the dripped water and the coffee powder is poor, so it takes a long time for the dripped water to penetrate into the coffee powder. At this time, if you throttle the dripping water flow rate control valve to slow down the rate of drop of the dripping water, each drop of dripping water will be able to fully penetrate into the coffee powder, allowing you to extract all the power of the coffee. I can do it.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, a water container 2 provided above the extractor main body 1
The water inside is sent from the water supply passage 3 at the bottom to a flow rate control valve 4 that controls the dripping flow rate of water, and is throttled down to a minute amount and drips from the discharge port 5, and is passed to a filtration chamber 7 that accommodates coffee powder 6. sent to.

The water dropped into the coffee powder 6 passes through the coffee powder 6 over time, extracts coffee components, becomes coffee liquid, drops from the outlet 8, and is stored in the coffee container 9.

The flow rate control valve 4 has a shaft shape with a valve hole 10 formed therein, and the valve hole 10 is disposed so as to intersect with the water supply passage 3, and the flow rate when the crossing angle α0 is small as shown in FIG. Conversely, the larger the intersection angle α, the smaller the flow rate (FIG. 2(b)).

Numeral 11 is a seal for watertightly fitting the flow rate control valve 4 and the water supply passage 3, and 12 is a knob provided on the flow rate control valve 4, which is used when manually controlling the dripping flow rate.

The inside of the filtration chamber 7 is equipped with a temperature detection means 13 such as a thermistor or a thermometer, and the flow rate control valve 4 is provided with a driving means 14 such as a stepping motor. Depending on the displacement angle, the flow rate control valve 4 can be opened or closed to adjust the water dripping speed.

FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram showing the relationship between the temperature sensing means 13 and the driving means 14. Information from the temperature sensing means 13 is processed by the temperature sensing circuit 15, and the driving means 14 is processed by the temperature sensing circuit 15.
4 is sent to the drive means control circuit 16 which controls the drive means control circuit 16. The drive means 14 is rotated by the signal processed by the drive means control circuit 16, and the flow rate control valve 4 is opened and closed.

In the above configuration, when low-pitched coffee powder is introduced into the filtration chamber 7, the driving means 14 rotates so that the flow rate control valve 4 is closed, the flow rate is throttled, and the water dripping speed is reduced. Therefore, the dripping water can slowly permeate into the coffee powder 6 over time, and all coffee components can be extracted.

On the other hand, when the temperature of the coffee powder is high, the driving means 14 rotates to open the flow rate control valve 4, and the temperature of the water becomes faster, so that the extraction time can be shortened.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention detects the temperature of coffee powder and adjusts the water dripping speed according to the temperature.
Coffee can be extracted regardless of the temperature of the ground coffee.

In particular, even when the temperature of the coffee powder is low, dripping water can be prevented from overflowing the filtration chamber and contaminating the machine body.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

3 is a circuit block diagram of the same coffee extractor, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional example. 2...Water container, 4...Flow rate control valve, 7
......Filtering chamber, 13...Temperature detection means,
14... Drive means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] The device includes a water container that stores water, a flow rate control valve that controls the dripping flow rate of water in the water container, and a filtration chamber that stores coffee powder, and detects the temperature of the coffee powder stored in the filtration chamber. A coffee brewer comprising a temperature sensing means and a driving means for opening and closing the flow rate control valve in response to information from the temperature sensing means.